Item: RavenDB
Rating: 10
Author: Georgios Diamantopoulos

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

RavenDB has been a central component of our application architecture for a long time. More we find it to be the appropriate database of use for numerous use cases and across industries. We believe it to be a well-rounded product that doesn't deliver features that it cannot deliver well, is very performant, and is friendly to projects small or big. Going forward we will do our best to promote it as the excellent software product that it is.

Pros and Cons

Reduces the amount of code you need to achieve common tasks.
Protects you against common traps.
Provides features to develop mostly anything!

Creating awareness around the developer community and establish a partner program.

Return on Investment

Projects where we worked with RavenDB went to market faster and cheaper because of the reduced cost of development.

Alternatives Considered

MongoDB, Apache CouchDB, Azure Cosmos DB, Amazon DocumentDB (with MongoDB compatibility), Neo4j and Microsoft SQL Server

Out of the many variants of document and SQL databases out there that we have used, RavenDB is our no 1 choice for anything but the smallest projects which can be served with a very small SQL instance. Other than that, RavenDB packs more features and is easier to work with than any of these.

Key Insights

Do you think RavenDB delivers good value for the price?

Yes

Are you happy with RavenDB's feature set?

Yes

Did RavenDB live up to sales and marketing promises?

Yes

Did implementation of RavenDB go as expected?

Yes

Would you buy RavenDB again?

Yes

Other Software Used

ASP.NET, React

Usability

It's easy to setup and install a license. Has many administration features that are useful beyond writing code with RavenDB. Very active Google group community. Constantly getting updated with new features. Interesting webinars every couple of weeks on new ways of using RavenDB.

Support Rating

Software always has bugs and the team was very responsive to bugs that had an impact. Beyond that, I've rarely had to ask for support, because it simply works.

Likelihood to Recommend

RavenDB really outshines many competing products in terms of functionality and goes beyond simple document storage. We have found the use of static indexes, incredibly powerful queries, subscriptions, and counters to be features that you can use to build almost anything. Now with the addition of graph queries and time-series, I really struggle to find a use-case where it doesn't make sense. Perhaps for platforms which can experience a huge surge in demand but where planning is not possible.

The Swiss Army Knife of Databases

Overall Satisfaction with RavenDB